Rules+: Referees Earning Our Stripes

Listen if you dare to three scenarios in which "routine" plays blew up and tested the officiating crew to handle suddenly challenging rulings: plays involving illegal touching of a punt, a spike play to stop the clock, and a fake punt that didn't fake out the officiating crew.

Trick plays are tricky enough to handle correctly, but how about "routine" plays that blow up and test our mechanics and rules knowledge? In this episode I cover three challenging scenarios during try downs and two plays from college games that may have ripple effects the rest of the season: the late substitution foul by Oregon against Ohio State and the successful onside kick by South Carolina against Alabama executed by using a drop kick.

I continue to share important clarifications and observations from NCAA rules secretary Steve Shaw in his weekly video reviews and bulletins. In this episode I discuss the swinging gate and other trick plays as well as late-game scenarios that can present tricky situations as well.

Now that the curtain has raised on the 2024 season, NCAA rules editor Steve Shaw has already issued important bulletin clarifications, including a new provision concerning a perceived loophole in the 10-second-runoff protocol. Keep up with the latest interpretations and clarifications as the Rules+ podcast monitors CFO weekly updates.

In this episode I take one more peek behind the curtain of the college football replay booth to look at guidelines from the NCAA Replay Case Book for judging four more play situations: when a ball carrier is down, when a ball carrier is out of bounds, when a safety or touchback has occurred, and when indicators of targeting are present.

We don't have replay during Texas high school football games, but we can peek behind the curtain of the replay booth for college games by consulting the NCAA Replay Casebook. In this episode, I pull back the curtain for guidelines in ruling on fumbles, plays at the goal line and pylon, blocks by the kicking team during an onside kick, and forward vs. backward passes.

Complete your pre-season rules-study preparation with this episode's review of the oft-neglected editorial changes and points of emphasis for 2024. See how 7 of the 20 editorial changes listed on FR-6 will impact how we do business this season.

This episode wraps up our pre-season preparation based on the 12 chapters of The Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules as chapter 12 addresses a few "loose ends and other stuff" about situations we may not see often but that we would like to be able to handle if they do occur, including inadvertent whistles, down counting errors, and myths about muffing a loose ball.

As the Rules+ pre-season tour of The Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules enters the home stretch, this episode reviews the guidelines in chapter 11 for penalty enforcement, including discussion of the philosophy and procedures for applying the 3-and-1 principle based on the basic spot and on the postscrimmage kick spot.

There's no substitute for understanding the NCAA football substitution process than the coverage in this episode of chapter 10 in The Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules, the 10th episode in a series of 12 episodes reviewing the 12 chapters of the Redding guide.

This episode covers more than meets the eye about provisions regarding scoring from chapter 9 of the Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules, including sticky situations at the goal line, when the ball is loose behind or beyond the goal line, safeties vs. touchbacks, and some special rules governing tries.

Here's the 8th in a series of 12 pre-season episodes covering highlights from each of the 12 chapters of the Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules. Chapter 8 covers major fouls: principally those with 15-yard penalties, but also illegal batting and kicking fouls.

This episode is the 7th in a series of 12 episodes covering highlights from each of the 12 chapters of The Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules. Chapter 7 covers starting and stopping the game clock and the play clock, as well as general principles of the NCAA tie-breaking procedure involving extra periods.

With this episode I reach the halfway point in my 12-week series to prepare for the 2024 football season by reviewing the 12 chapters of the Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules. It's easy for us to feel comfortable about our knowledge of the running game because that 's what we see so much of, but the Redding guide never fails to alert us to stuff we didn't know we don't know!

This episode is the 5th in a series of 12 episodes covering highlights from the each of the 12 chapters of the The Rogers Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules. Chapter 5 covers the passing game, which includes a few obscure twists that are worth our study time.

My pre-season preparation highlighting topics from the Rogers Redding study guide continues with this episode reviewing chapter 4, concerning scrimmage requirements.

Continuing pre-season preparation based on The Rogers Redding Study Guide for NCAA Football Rules, I review illustrative topics about free and scrimmage kicks from chapter 3, including complications from illegal touching, illegal blocks by the kicking team, and fouls by the opponent of a team that scores a touchdown during a kicking down.

Continuing pre-season preparation based on the Rogers Redding Study Guide for NCAA Football Rules, I review recent rules changes revisited in chapter 2, looking for trends in rules evolution.

The Rules+ podcast resumes 2024 with 12 initial weekly episodes based on the "phases of the game" covered in the 12 chapters of The Redding Study Guide to NCAA Football Rules. Referee Michael Barrett, long-tenured moderator of the Rules Plus program of the Austin Football Officials Association, leads a weekly deep dive into the complex collection of the rules of the game we love.

After tying up some loose ends from the discussion in the last episode of Personal Foul vs. Unsportsmanlike Conduct, I look at the rules tweaks that the NCAA must make for extra periods.

Not all 15-yard penalties are created equal, with the consequences for unsportsmanlike conduct possible extending beyond a single game, unlike in the case of a personal foul. This episode contrasts the fraternal twins of UNR vs. UNS.

In this episode I share several Approved Rulings and play scenario examples from the Rogers Redding Study Guide to consider differences between an illegal touch and illegally touching a loose ball.

As I continue working my way through the Sibling Rules Project, I discuss the similarities and differences between pre-snap requirements for the offense and the defense.

This episode completes the discussion of the similarities and differences between forward and backward passes by considering 5 remaining elements of comparison.

The Rule Siblings Project continues as I uncover a few interesting wrinkles and perhaps surprises in comparing provisions for forward passes as compared to backward passes.

See what the ruling on last week's cliffhanger play should be as a segue into considering the unforeseen implications of confusing an illegal kick with the act of illegally kicking a loose ball.

Two terms fundamental to determining possession, penalty enforcement, and eligibility to advance a loose ball are fumble vs. muff. This episode explores the wider implications for American football in general of the differences between this pair of rules siblings.

The differences between kickoffs and a free kick after a safety are obvious: a kickoff is from the 40 and a free kick after a safety is from the 20 and is almost always a punt. But what purpose does having these differences serve? Join veteran referee Michael Barrett as he offers his speculation about why.

Continuing the project to compare pairs of rules siblings, Michael Barrett investigates the parallels and inconsistencies between scrimmage kick plays and forward pass plays in whether--or how--the ball crossing the neutral zone matters.

Turning my focus to scrimmage kicks, I consider at length the similarities and often subtle differences between a field goal attempt and a punt. It's easy to overlook the differences because the rule book introduces them as exceptions to otherwise fundamental principles concerning ball possession and penalty enforcement.

After three previous episodes, here is the exciting conclusion to discussion of the free kick vs. scrimmage kick dyad, with bonus coverage of how to handle a down in extra periods when there is a change--or changes--of team possession.

The Siblings Project continues with extensive discussion of a play scenario that illustrates what a scrimmage kick play is and isn't.

This week I cover two interesting play situations from AFOA's first live Rule Plus study session, and then the Siblings Project continues with introductory comments for the comparison of free kicks with scrimmage kicks.

The Siblings Project continues with my analysis of the similarities and differences between the rules pair illegal forward pass and intentional grounding.

In this episode, I share clarifications of two interesting mechanics siblings from the 2023 TASO Football Annual Meeting at the Renaissance Dallas hotel in late July.

Building on the idea that we should study how rules in separate places may in fact impact each other, I introduce the 1st of 15 pairs of rule concepts we should analyze to discover how they are alike and different from each other. In this episode, I look at the dyad of kickers vs. passers.

This episode uncovers the many places you may need to visit in the rules book to get a play right because football rules comprise a web of overlapping, interrelated provisions to be found in the most unexpected places.

Michael Barrett pulls back the curtain to investigate the rationale and possible impact of 9 editorial changes to NCAA football rules and of the debut of a 6-page collection of "Officiating Standards" to accompany Approved Rulings.

In this episode Michael Barrett elaborates upon last week's discussion of NCAA rules changes for the 2023 college and Texas high school seasons, sharing clarifications from Bill Theodore at the TASO Rules Clinic in Austin on June 24.

The Rules+ podcast provides weekly advanced study of NCAA football rules, mechanics, and philosophies for high school and college referees who are members of the Austin Football Officials Association. This inaugural episode reviews the changes for this season in NCAA rules, and discusses the implications of those changes.